1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to winching devices and more specifically to a winching device for pulling the tongue of a towed trailer with its ball socket towards the ball mount on the towing vehicle until the two hitch components can be aligned and interconnected.
2. Background Art
In the practice of hitching a trailer and its ball socket to the towing vehicle and its ball mount, it is sometimes extremely difficult to move the trailer to its final hitching position so that the ball socket and ball mount can be aligned and interconnected. Often the trailer ball socket can be easily brought to within about one to two feet of the towing vehicle ball mount. However, because of soft ground, the angle of the trailer to the towing vehicle, the weight on the tongue or other reasons, it is often difficult to manually move the trailer the required last one to two feet.
While it is known to mount a permanent winch on the rear of a towing vehicle and its also known to mount a winch at an elevated position on a post at the front of a boat trailer for pulling a boat out of the water onto the boat trailer, neither of these types of winches are adapted to be clamped to the tongue of the trailer as with the present invention and to provide a pulling force which extends from a pulley mounted at least several inches below the trailer tongue and at an upward angle to the ball mount.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,042,254 describes a pair of matable cone shaped members which are drawn together by a screw mechanism and a chain or cable. While the device of this patent seeks to deal with the problem of aligning and bringing the trailer and towing vehicle hitch components together the device does not permit use of the conventional ball socket and ball mount type of interconnection.
Thus, the present invention seeks to provide an improved winching device which can be detachably secured to the tongue of a trailer for pulling a conventional ball mount and ball socket together for interconnection and without requiring modification of either hitch component or modification of the trailer. Other objects will become apparent as the description proceeds.